Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
He: That You May Be Feared
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes.
Then I will guard it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I will guard your law.
I will keep it with all my heart.
35 Make me walk on the path of your commandments,
for I take pleasure in it.
36 Direct my heart toward your testimonies
and not toward material gain.
37 Keep my eyes from looking at worthless things.
Give me life according to your ways.[a]
38 Confirm your sayings to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
39 Take away my disgrace which I dread,
for your judgments are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!
Give me life in your righteousness.
A Parable About the Siege of Jerusalem
24 The word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month.[a]
2 Son of man, record this date, this very day. The king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem on this very day. 3 Tell a parable to the rebellious house. Tell them that this is what the Lord God says.
Put the pot on. Put it on. Then pour water in it. 4 Put the pieces of meat into it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder. Fill it with the best cuts.[b] 5 Take the best of the flock. Pile up the wood[c] under it. Boil it thoroughly, so that the pieces[d] in it are well cooked.
6 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Woe to the bloody city, a pot whose residue[e] is inside it, whose residue has not gone out of it!
Take out its cuts of meat piece by piece, without choosing one piece in preference to another.[f] 7 Do this because the blood she shed remains within her. She spilled it on a bare rock. She did not pour it on the ground, where the soil would cover it. 8 To rouse wrath and to exact repayment, I have spilled her blood on a bare rock so that it would not be covered.
9 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Woe to the bloody city! I myself will keep piling up the wood. 10 Add more wood. Stoke the fire. Overcook the meat. Pour out the broth.[g] Let the bones be charred. 11 Leave the empty pot on the coals so that it becomes hot and its bronze glows, till the filth inside it is melted, and its residue is burned away. 12 The city has wearied me with its wickedness. Its filthy residue has not been removed from it. Into the fire with its filthy residue!
13 Your impurity is lewdness. I tried to cleanse you, but you did not become clean, and as a result you will not be clean again from your impurity until I have exhausted my wrath against you. 14 I, the Lord, have spoken. This is coming, and I will do it. I will not neglect it. I will not spare you, and I will not relent. According to your behavior and your misdeeds, you will be judged, declares the Lord God.
Not a Burden
11 I have become a fool. You forced me. After all, I ought to be commended by you, because I was not inferior to the “super-apostles” in any way, even if I am nothing. 12 The signs of an apostle—signs and wonders and miracles—were performed among you with all perseverance. 13 For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me for this wrong.
14 See, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, because I do not seek your possessions, but you. After all, the children should not have to save up for their parents, but the parents for their children. 15 But I will very gladly spend and be completely spent on behalf of your souls. If I love you all the more, am I to be loved that much less? 16 But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Oh, but I was just being crafty and using deceit to exploit you, wasn’t I! 17 Did I ever take advantage of you through any one of the men I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go and sent our brother with him. Surely Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not walk in the same spirit—in the very same footprints?
Paul’s Visit
19 Are you thinking that we are trying to defend ourselves to you all this time?[a] We are speaking in the sight of God in Christ. Dear friends, all these words are for your strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I arrive, I may not find you as I want you to be, and that you might not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, pride, and disorder. 21 I fear that, when I arrive again, my God will humble me in regard to you, and I will have to grieve for many who sinned earlier and have not repented of the uncleanness, the sexual immorality, and the lewd sins they committed.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.